MUMBAI: Dalits in Maharashtra were outraged on the verdict of Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, which commuted the death sentences of six people, accused of massacring a Dalit family in Maharashtra’s Khairlanji village in 2006, to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment with no remission.
The court turned down a plea by the CBI challenging the lower court’s ruling which gave life term to two of the eight accused and death to six. The Bench handed out 25 years imprisonment to all the eight accused, citing that the case did not fall in the ‘rarest of rare’ category.
The Bhandara Sessions court had awarded capital punishment to Shatrughana Dhande, Vishwanath Dhande, Ramu Dhande, Sakru Binjewar, Jagdish Mandlekar and Prabhkar Mandlekar and lifer to Shishupal Dhande and Gopal Binjewar, acquitting three others. Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, who witnessed the brutal assault, torture and killing of his wife, daughter and two sons broke down on learning the HC judgment and said, “Justice has not been done.” Prominent Dalit leaders like Surekha Kumbhare and Prakash Ambedkar, president of the Bahujan Maha Sangh, said, the court has ignored the cruelty done to the victims.